In 2013, at the height of the "Harlem Shake" viral dance craze, John released a video titled . Unlike the thousands of other versions of the meme that involved groups of people dancing wildly after a jump cut, John’s version took an extreme, "hard R-rated" turn.
: Since then, John’s legal team has aggressively used DMCA takedown notices to remove the video from major platforms like YouTube and search engine results. harlem shake poop steezy grossman internet archive
: The video was originally hosted on a dedicated website (HarlemShakePoop.com) in early 2013 before John pivoted to children's content as Blippi in 2014. Internet Archive Presence In 2013, at the height of the "Harlem
The terminal in Eli’s basement hummed with the sound of dying fans. It was 3:00 AM, and Eli was deep in the trenches of the Internet Archive, on a specific mission that most people would call a waste of time. He wasn't looking for lost literature or abandoned software. He was hunting a ghost. : The video was originally hosted on a
Steezy Grossman—Devon only by legal name—walked home that night under sodium lights, the city humming like an exhausted engine. He thought about the Archive: a place where small, foolish things could outlast reputation, where the stupid and sublime lived side by side. Maybe that was the point. To make something that made people laugh and squirm, then leave it to be found later by strangers who might find, in that squirm, a glimmer of being alive.
The Poop Steezy Grossman character, while largely forgotten, represents the internet's tendency to create and obsess over strange, often inexplicable content. The character's appearance on the Internet Archive serves as a testament to the web's ability to preserve and amplify even the most bizarre and ephemeral trends.